A new piece by an aging rocker. “Two decades after Roger Waters broke with Pink Floyd, as bassist, lead singer and composer, fans flew here from across Europe to hear his latest creation. And it seemed to matter little that he had written a 19th-century-style opera called “Ça Ira,” or “There Is Hope.”
Blog
Met In The Stolen-Art Crosshairs
Italy says the collection of New York’s Metroplitan Museum (and that of one of its trustees)has more than 30 objects stolen from Italy. Phillipe de Montebello “faces a careful balancing act as he fields questions from Mr. Fiorilli on those Greek and other ancient artifacts. While Italy’s culture minister, Rocco Buttiglione, has emphasized that his government is not out to ‘destroy the cultural potential of American museums,’ the ministry has threatened to deny loans to museums that refuse to cooperate. And in a powerful reminder of the Italians’ determination, a former curator from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles went on trial in Rome last week on criminal charges of conspiring to import looted antiquities for that museum’s collection.”
Repurposing Lit Theory
At each subsequent stage in the history of the modern university, English professors have repurposed literary history to suit expedient needs. When English classes were one way of carrying forward the religious mood of schools once devoted to educating a ministry, literature was made an occasion for conversion or homily.
New York’s Architectural Renaissance
“New architecture—variously bright, shiny, brittle, show-offy, and slightly crazed but a lot of it significant and some of it even thrilling — is now happening in New York as it hasn’t since the Lever House–Seagram Building–Guggenheim Museum fifties.”
Staff Shortages Restrict Robert Louis Stevenson Access
Public access to an important trove of Robert Louis Stevenson memorabilia has been restricted because of staff shortages. “While visitors to the Writers’ Museum in Edinburgh can enjoy full access to the collections of Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns on the upper floor, Europe’s finest Stevenson’s artefacts, including photographs, letters and a pair of the author’s boots, is mostly kept under lock and key in the basement because there is no attendant to keep an eye on them.”
South Florida Gets A New Orchestra
It’s in Boca Raton. “Those leading the new chamber orchestra are proceeding along a very cautious, slow-growth path, determined to avoid setting an overly ambitious agenda or digging a financial crater. With a modest annual budget of $365,000, the Symphonia is committed to being revenue-driven.”
Man Has Beethoven’s Bones
A California man says he’s in possession of fragments of Beethoven’s bones. “Paul Kaufmann made the announcement at the Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University, which helped coordinate forensic testing aimed at authenticating the fragments and determining what killed Beethoven at age 56.”
Can Going To Art Galleries Cure Binge Drinking?
That’s what a London report suggests. “Offering the public more varied night-time entertainment, not geared solely towards young drinkers, is the key to avoiding a surge of antisocial behaviour in the wake of this week’s extension of pub opening hours, according to the London Assembly.”
Piano: Suburbs Have Been Misunderstood
Architect Renzo Piano says cities have ignored suburbs at their peril. “The big topic of today, and of the next 20 years, will be peripheries. How you can transform peripheries into a town. What is happening today in Paris is happening everywhere. It is mad, mad, and the insensitivity of people and politicians . . . They create ghettos. In Paris it is particularly bad. Now people are starting to understand that the real challenge of the next 30 years is to turn peripheries into cities. The peripheries are the cities that will be. Or not. Or will never be.”
How Music Companies Are Screwing Us On Digital Music
“Not many music lovers have warmed to the idea that they don’t retain all the rights to the music they buy. The crux of the debate is this: When you buy a song, an album, or a movie, are you buying the content only in the form it comes in? If you purchase a song from Apple’s iTunes store, should you be able to play it on any hardware you want?”